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A Manual for Music Workshops Graham Leak Currency Press, Sydney, 2003 ISBN 0 86819673 8 Reviewed by Lindy Morrison Graham Leak is a consummate performer whose work includes his musical contribution as percussionist in the experimental Flederman Ensemble (founded by Carl Vine and Simone de Haan) for a decade in the eighties. Leak has worked all over Australia, USA and Europe. His work as a solo performer, with the ASTRA concerts and The Last Laugh, has given him a brilliant reputation amongst musicians and fans that he deserves. He also directs large-scale events and performances, music theatre, dance and improvised music. Graeme is also a teacher and has held positions in some of our leading music institutions. This book is an expression of those teaching skills. It is rare to find a musician who will take the time to write down their teaching techniques. Competition between practitioners is possibly a factor here although laziness possibly contributes as well. A manual for music workshops for performance making is hard to find and community musicians among others will be especially grateful for the chance to explore his ideas and learn from the experience and wisdom that Leak imparts to the reader. Leak provides the reader with a complete template to create a workshop.
Leaks approach is extremely logical. His book is written for leaders of music workshops about creating a performance and allowing the participants to contribute as they gain confidence and ability. He begins by discussing the principles of performance making. Its commonsense information. Its about letting go of fear and not being judgemental, the underlying message that everyone has something in them to contribute and that with the right circumstances everyone can express themselves. But this is not just psychobabble; he also lays down rules about the physical space required for a workshop, describing the ideal space. This often is overlooked in community situations.
Leak begins his workshops with extensive isolation and stretching exercises (21 pages with photos!). I found this exhausting and a little aggravating. Many musicians have little sense of their bodies outside of their union with the making of sound/music and an instrument. I believe his expectation that a group of musicians or would-be music makers would engage in the exercises is a bit of a stretch. Im not sure the exercises would always be a good place to start. Perhaps working in music institution provides Leak with particular types of performers who are more in tune with their overall body.
However, after we get through the exercises, he begins in real earnest to describe his warm up games, based on theatre exercises and listening games. He has adapted a number of drama exercises for the purpose of warming up and relaxing the participants. This is good information and also sends a workshop leader in the right direction to explore theatre techniques as tools.
For me, the real body of his work starts in Chapter 11 where he starts his discussion on the acquisition of music skills. From here on this book is riveting. I love this quote:
Western music is influenced by our approach to organizing time. We divide the days into hours and subdivide the hours into minutes and seconds. Similarly in music we divide the bars into beats and the beats into rhythms.
In demonstrating this, he uses clocks, he uses metronomes, he uses breathing. Leaks pulse exercises are extremely fun (three, four and five pulse exercises played together by the group). I have seen the very talented Greg Sheehan use the same methods in his workshops. I learned from Greg to use them myself, but in Leaks books we see the first written guide with symbols to use these exercises.
His exercises to demonstrate pitch are just as exciting. He suggests playing the A above middle C every time you pass a keyboard so the pitch is ingrained. He shows the reader how to have your workshop group search all sorts of different combinations of notes and describes how they can work together playing games and singing, to write and improvise melodies, devise harmonies, and even explore silence.
Particularly fun and useful are his exercises for a group to find a note amongst themselves. May I suggest, after playing Leaks game in a workshop, that the game works particularly well if participants are blindfolded!
It is wonderful to see this information being shared in the written form. Community musicians have been like the old folk singers passing the workshop stories around in the spoken and musical word and learning from each other in practice. Here we have a text that gives out lots of reliable hints, games and exercises that can be used in music workshops. Lets hope more will follow.
Music Forum Vol 9 No 6 |
